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Ep 24: Happy Holidays!
47 Plays6 years ago
Episode 24 is loaded with our thoughts on: Rick and Morty, Stranger Things, and Hot Wheels. Also we share an awesome story from listener of the show Michael Peterson and we announce our winner for the Superman 78 Translite!
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Transcript
Welcome and Episode Introduction
00:00:06
Speaker
Hey, thanks for tuning in to the Loser Kid Pinball Podcast.
00:00:09
Speaker
It is episode 24.
00:00:11
Speaker
With me, my co-captain as always.
00:00:13
Speaker
Scott Larson.
00:00:14
Speaker
Hey, Scott.
00:00:15
Speaker
How are you doing today, man?
00:00:16
Speaker
You know, I feel like if it's episode 24, we should probably do like a 24 theme, like a Jack Bauer theme.
00:00:24
Speaker
So we're going to do like 24 hours of just podcasting.
00:00:28
Speaker
What were we going to do here?
Review of Stern's '24' and Pinball Era Discussion
00:00:29
Speaker
No, I was thinking we were going to review the classic Stern title 24.
00:00:33
Speaker
That was so widely received and such an amazing pen.
00:00:37
Speaker
You know, honestly, I've never seen one in my entire existence and didn't know it existed until I heard it on.
00:00:43
Speaker
May was head to head.
00:00:45
Speaker
I didn't know they.
00:00:46
Speaker
Yeah.
00:00:47
Speaker
Have you even played 24?
00:00:48
Speaker
No, there is.
00:00:51
Speaker
There's kind of this wasteland in the, basically after Lord of the Rings and Simpsons Pinball Party, there's this wasteland of pinball, just wilderness, where you hear about these games, you're like, yeah, I kind of remember those games.
00:01:10
Speaker
But there's nothing memorable about them.
00:01:12
Speaker
They are completely phoning it in.
00:01:15
Speaker
And, you know, we've talked about the second renaissance with Jersey Jack coming in and saying, huh, well, what they're doing is not up to the quality we think we should do.
00:01:25
Speaker
So, hey, guess what?
00:01:26
Speaker
We are going to step up the game.
00:01:27
Speaker
And then, you know, then the Empire Strikes Back Stern said, oh, that's what you want to do.
00:01:33
Speaker
OK, let's show you what we can do.
00:01:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:01:37
Speaker
So it seems like in that whole wasteland, there's a few games that bubble to the top that are fun to play.
00:01:45
Speaker
But off the top of my head, the games that are fun to play pre-ACDC.
00:01:52
Speaker
And we're talking after the fall of the Pinball 2000.
00:01:56
Speaker
So you have Lord of the Rings.
00:02:00
Speaker
You have Simpsons Pinball Party.
00:02:04
Speaker
Spider-Man's fun.
00:02:06
Speaker
It's a fun game.
00:02:07
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:02:08
Speaker
I would put Iron Man in that category too.
00:02:11
Speaker
Pirates of the Caribbean.
00:02:17
Speaker
What am I missing?
00:02:19
Speaker
I...
00:02:21
Speaker
You know, honestly, I think you've hit them all.
00:02:23
Speaker
The ones that I can think of.
00:02:25
Speaker
No, I will say there are other ones that are passable.
00:02:28
Speaker
They're okay.
00:02:30
Speaker
I will say that I have committed to playing Shrek to understand it and really try to appreciate the game because I've just never really been able to get into
Commitment to Playing Pinball
00:02:45
Speaker
it.
00:02:45
Speaker
I bought it a little sight unseen and...
00:02:50
Speaker
The theme is fantastic.
00:02:52
Speaker
The flow, it's quirky, it's interesting.
00:02:58
Speaker
But I've come to the conclusion that every time I play it, I think, huh, what would I... So when you play the, what would I rather have?
00:03:07
Speaker
Would I rather have this or would I rather have something else?
00:03:10
Speaker
And then I start thinking, you know what, maybe it's...
00:03:13
Speaker
Maybe it's time to shake up the collection a little bit.
00:03:15
Speaker
And I'm not a guy who shakes up a collection that much.
00:03:19
Speaker
Yeah, all the time I've known you, I think your collections pretty much stayed the same.
00:03:22
Speaker
I mean, the last thing that come in was Attack from Mars, and that was when they released it, dude.
00:03:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:03:29
Speaker
No, basically, it's kind of a pain to move things in and out of my basement.
00:03:34
Speaker
And so that has really helped in me not turning over things that much.
00:03:40
Speaker
But I also feel that I want to...
00:03:45
Speaker
I don't want to say dominate a game, but when you buy a video game, you beat the game, right?
00:03:50
Speaker
You eventually finish the game and you're like, okay, I finished that and I want to move on.
00:03:55
Speaker
And maybe it's just that I don't, one, I'm not really an epic pinball player.
00:04:00
Speaker
And two, I just don't have the time to put in
00:04:04
Speaker
to really get good on one game.
00:04:06
Speaker
And so I've never really felt like I have scratched that itch on the game to move it on.
00:04:12
Speaker
So that's why I've been trying to.
00:04:14
Speaker
And it's a fun game, like a fun theme.
00:04:19
Speaker
The call-outs are amazing.
00:04:22
Speaker
I just, when I play it, I think, huh, I think it's just like I have gotten the enjoyment I want out of this
Replayability and Game Experience
00:04:29
Speaker
game.
00:04:29
Speaker
And so I just want to move on.
00:04:30
Speaker
But I don't know.
00:04:32
Speaker
Are there games where you bought where you said, you know, I really wanted that game.
00:04:36
Speaker
And then, you know, after, you know, after you played it for a year or six months or something, you said, you know what, it's still a good game.
00:04:44
Speaker
And it's not like I'm selling a, you know, selling a dump to someone else, but it's just time to move on, I guess.
00:04:53
Speaker
I think there's been a couple of games like that in my collection.
00:04:58
Speaker
The first one that comes to mind is Fishtails.
00:05:00
Speaker
I enjoy Fishtails, but it just was not.
00:05:04
Speaker
My collection is small.
00:05:06
Speaker
I'm down to three right now.
00:05:07
Speaker
I think the most I've ever been up to was seven.
00:05:11
Speaker
I'm kind of getting that itch again of I've got to get rid of something to get something new.
00:05:15
Speaker
But Fishtails definitely floats to top.
00:05:18
Speaker
I loved Johnny Mnemonic, but it was kind of samey-samey after about six months.
00:05:24
Speaker
But that's a fantastic game.
00:05:26
Speaker
It's just with a small collection and you start playing it over and over, it kind of...
00:05:32
Speaker
it kind of loses its replayability, I guess.
00:05:35
Speaker
Yeah.
00:05:36
Speaker
Um, the one that would shock a lot of people that I, we're, I was actually talking to, um, the guys over at Buffalo pinball.
00:05:43
Speaker
We were talking about this.
00:05:44
Speaker
Um, I had Simpsons pinball party for like six months and just moved it on.
00:05:50
Speaker
Um,
00:05:52
Speaker
I don't know what it is.
00:05:53
Speaker
I think the best way I could describe it to them is the game feels claustrophobic to me.
00:05:59
Speaker
Okay.
00:06:01
Speaker
I think it's because the pop bumpers on the left.
00:06:03
Speaker
It's kind of like that Adams family kind of layout where you've got some stuff really close on the left side in the middle.
00:06:10
Speaker
And then really the only shots are...
00:06:13
Speaker
Well, there's tons of shots on this game, but I just... I don't know.
00:06:17
Speaker
I felt like I was shooting garage TV, garage TV.
00:06:20
Speaker
I know a lot of people say, hey, there's a lot more to that.
00:06:23
Speaker
There's pretzel multiball.
00:06:24
Speaker
There's... My favorite mode was the auto mode.
00:06:28
Speaker
Once you've collected all the kids, you get the twilight zone mode where your flippers reverse.
00:06:37
Speaker
Love that mode.
00:06:38
Speaker
But I just...
00:06:40
Speaker
I don't know.
00:06:41
Speaker
Simpsons to me, fantastic game, very deep, but it just after, after six months, I just kind of was done.
00:06:48
Speaker
I think, I think it's, I focus in on games so much that I don't want to see everything and I kind of get burned out on them.
00:06:56
Speaker
I think it's like what Martin said over to head to head.
00:06:58
Speaker
Like you get so involved into a game and you play it just way entirely too much.
00:07:03
Speaker
And then you're kind of done with it way too quick.
00:07:06
Speaker
Cause he's trying to do not do that with Jurassic park.
00:07:08
Speaker
And he's just, he's loving it right now, but he's, he's taking it in, in stride.
00:07:12
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
00:07:13
Speaker
Right.
00:07:14
Speaker
And he did that with iron maiden.
00:07:15
Speaker
So that's, it makes sense that I, I,
00:07:19
Speaker
There are so many games that people who play so much, they get tired of them a lot faster than I do.
00:07:31
Speaker
I guess I would say it's that album that you love, but you listen to it so much that you're just...
00:07:38
Speaker
You need a new itch.
00:07:39
Speaker
You need something else to move it on.
00:07:42
Speaker
But I don't really have that much time to play.
00:07:46
Speaker
So I can play for 30 minutes or... But I don't have that six-hour streaming capability where I can be alone and just really get into a game.
00:07:56
Speaker
And so it feels that, at least with Shrek, that I've seen all that I need to in the game.
00:08:07
Speaker
And I do understand the history.
00:08:09
Speaker
The history, obviously, it was started off with Family Guy and it just wasn't selling that well.
00:08:14
Speaker
So they re-skinned it.
00:08:15
Speaker
And, you know, I would say on the quick, they put everything in.
00:08:22
Speaker
Now, I will say at least the art package for how quickly they re-skinned it.
00:08:27
Speaker
I think they did a fantastic job.
00:08:29
Speaker
And I absolutely love that they use the McDonald's toys for the sculpts in the game.
00:08:36
Speaker
So you're playing a Happy Meal.
00:08:38
Speaker
Yeah, you know it.
00:08:40
Speaker
Yeah, it's actually pretty ingenious that they did that.
00:08:44
Speaker
However, I think they didn't make that...
00:08:50
Speaker
epic wizard mode that you're really shooting for.
00:08:53
Speaker
Um, you know, we, we talked about this with, uh, with monster bash where I got to the end.
00:09:00
Speaker
And by the way, if I can get to the end of the game, then that means that it's really, um, it, you know, pretty straightforward.
00:09:07
Speaker
Okay.
00:09:07
Speaker
It can still be fun.
00:09:08
Speaker
I know I've, I've been to the end of Iron Man and I still enjoy playing Iron Man just because it's to, it's a fast experience.
00:09:15
Speaker
Um, but,
00:09:16
Speaker
But I also feel, okay, well, there's not much else that I'm really trying to shoot for.
00:09:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:09:23
Speaker
I get you,
Managing Pinball Collections
00:09:24
Speaker
man.
00:09:25
Speaker
Well, and the funny part is I know your collection sits forever.
00:09:27
Speaker
And my collections, usually I've got like two or three good staples.
00:09:30
Speaker
And then there's a revolver.
00:09:33
Speaker
I sold my revolver.
00:09:36
Speaker
um to have some cash and and now i'm just down to my three staples and it kind of dawned on me i've had monster bash it's been in my collection the shortest and it's been a year and so i was like well dang you know that's honestly that's pretty much like the longest i've ever hold or not held a game but
00:09:55
Speaker
um i'm just like it's time dude so uh hopefully uh it should all work out i'm still waiting on it but uh it sounds like i'm uh getting rid of monster bash and i'm gonna pick up a shadow and a lord the rings hopefully it all goes through it goes through well but i figure that's not a bad trade-off you know
00:10:16
Speaker
And you talked to me about that, and I thought it was a good option to mix things up.
00:10:23
Speaker
The challenge is you can't really own them all.
00:10:26
Speaker
And so in many ways in this hobby, it's okay to have a few grails where, yeah, this is really what I want, and it's just never leaving my collection.
00:10:38
Speaker
But...
00:10:39
Speaker
In many ways, you have to learn to enjoy a game and learn to part with the game, too, because otherwise you're going to have a warehouse in Bannath that has 150 games.
00:10:51
Speaker
Hey, what's wrong with that?
00:10:53
Speaker
No, okay, it would be epic, but could you imagine the maintenance nightmare on those?
00:10:58
Speaker
Oh, it'd be crazy.
00:10:59
Speaker
It'd be crazy.
00:11:00
Speaker
But...
00:11:01
Speaker
Yeah, so I'm just hoping... I really don't have that game that has that kind of depth that I really want, so that's why I'm going for Lord of the Rings, and I've always loved Shadow.
00:11:09
Speaker
I've wanted Shadow for years now.
00:11:12
Speaker
The crazy thing about Lord of the Rings, if you think about Keith Johnson coding both Simpsons and Lord of the Rings in the same year.
00:11:23
Speaker
Yeah.
00:11:26
Speaker
Those are both games that are encyclopedic.
00:11:30
Speaker
Like when people talk about getting to Valinor, okay, great.
00:11:34
Speaker
Don't know too many people who have actually made it to Alien Invasion and beyond in Simpsons.
00:11:39
Speaker
I certainly haven't even come close.
00:11:43
Speaker
See, and I think that's the other thing that frustrated me about Simpsons is I would put all that work in and get to Alien Invasion.
00:11:50
Speaker
And I know Steve Ritchie would just say play better, but it is so hard to do Alien Invasion.
00:11:58
Speaker
I don't know if anyone out there has tried it and been successful, but the handful ties that I got to Alien Invasion, I don't know.
00:12:05
Speaker
In my opinion, it's kind of like a kick in the face because it's like, oh, you got this far.
00:12:10
Speaker
Congratulations.
00:12:11
Speaker
Now, good luck.
00:12:13
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
00:12:16
Speaker
It's that wizard mode that has to have the payoff.
00:12:21
Speaker
Imagine the video game analogy where you get to the end and then they're like, welcome to the end.
00:12:27
Speaker
You're dead.
00:12:28
Speaker
Yeah.
00:12:30
Speaker
You have to feel like there's this progression and yes, you can actually accomplish a satisfactory conclusion in the game.
00:12:39
Speaker
Otherwise, you're really going to feel like it's not worth it.
00:12:44
Speaker
So you know what's funny?
00:12:44
Speaker
I don't know why I just remembered this, but there's a video game called Mario and Luigi Superstar Saga.
00:12:50
Speaker
It's an RPG based, like a turn based attack game.
00:12:55
Speaker
But the literal final boss is you beat her and then she kills you within one percent of your like one hit point.
00:13:03
Speaker
And then
00:13:04
Speaker
After you come back, I think some guy brings you back to life, you still only have one hit point, and then she barrage attacks you with all these ridiculous amount of attacks that you've got to dodge to finally even just take a health potion.
00:13:21
Speaker
And I know a lot of people that got to that point and hated it so much, they just quit the game.
00:13:25
Speaker
They're like, I've gotten to the end.
00:13:27
Speaker
I'm calling it good.
00:13:27
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
00:13:29
Speaker
Absolutely.
00:13:30
Speaker
It feels like you can't... It can't be...
00:13:33
Speaker
too brutal.
00:13:34
Speaker
Correct.
00:13:37
Speaker
There's this fine line between being too easy and too difficult and having the game that has that nice mix of satisfying shots that are difficult but findable.
00:13:52
Speaker
Otherwise, you're just going to feel like this is brutal.
00:13:55
Speaker
It's not fun.
00:13:59
Speaker
I agree.
00:14:00
Speaker
Well, shall we move on to some news?
00:14:03
Speaker
I think we should.
00:14:04
Speaker
So anything happened in the
Rick and Morty Pinball Machine
00:14:06
Speaker
last two weeks?
00:14:06
Speaker
I mean, it's been a slow time of year for pinball, right?
00:14:10
Speaker
It really has.
00:14:11
Speaker
It's like, you know, Christmas is here, so they're taking the month off.
00:14:15
Speaker
At least I think Spooky deserves a little extra time off now.
00:14:20
Speaker
Yeah.
00:14:21
Speaker
Well, I don't think they have any time off.
00:14:22
Speaker
So if you haven't been hiding under a rock in pinball, you will have seen that Spooky has announced the Rick and Morty pinball machine.
00:14:34
Speaker
And they put it out there at, what, two days ago and a cap of 750.
00:14:41
Speaker
And what happened, Josh?
00:14:45
Speaker
It sold out in less than four hours.
00:14:47
Speaker
I mean, this is a record for spooky.
00:14:50
Speaker
Definitely.
00:14:51
Speaker
Okay.
00:14:52
Speaker
Now, holy crap.
00:14:53
Speaker
We have talked about this before.
00:14:55
Speaker
Tell me about the like, what was your initial reaction to Rick and Morty?
00:15:02
Speaker
And what is your reaction now?
00:15:06
Speaker
Now, you've seen the play field.
00:15:08
Speaker
You've seen the innovations.
00:15:09
Speaker
You've seen that classic Italian bottom with the pop bumper.
00:15:13
Speaker
That is, I would say, a slight risk considering that Ghostbusters tried at least messing with the kickers.
00:15:22
Speaker
And I would say unsuccessfully with the premium and LE.
00:15:28
Speaker
People just didn't...
00:15:29
Speaker
like what happened down there.
00:15:31
Speaker
Now, this is different.
00:15:32
Speaker
You have a kicker on the right side and you have a pop bumper on the left.
00:15:36
Speaker
I know that is a huge question.
00:15:38
Speaker
So first off, let's talk about Rick and Morty.
00:15:41
Speaker
How excited on a scale of one to 10 were you about Rick and Morty?
00:15:45
Speaker
And the second part is what do you like?
00:15:49
Speaker
How do you see that as fitting into the global scheme of pinball themes?
00:15:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:15:55
Speaker
Okay, so I will answer your questions in the order that you ask them.
00:16:02
Speaker
So as far as Rick and Morty, I was probably about average seven.
00:16:06
Speaker
I love it when new pinball comes out regardless.
00:16:09
Speaker
I don't care if it's My Little Pony or Rick and Morty.
00:16:13
Speaker
It doesn't matter.
00:16:14
Speaker
Pinball is pinball.
00:16:15
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
00:16:16
Speaker
Okay, so what you're saying is My Little Pony is your grail theme.
00:16:19
Speaker
That's what you're saying.
00:16:19
Speaker
You know it.
00:16:20
Speaker
That's what I'm saying.
00:16:21
Speaker
You're a brony, aren't you?
00:16:23
Speaker
No, actually it's Golden Girls.
00:16:25
Speaker
Me and my wife watch that often.
00:16:27
Speaker
And so I could dig a Golden Girls pinball machine.
00:16:30
Speaker
I'm not going to lie.
00:16:31
Speaker
Okay, now I will say, I'm going to do a little tangent here.
00:16:34
Speaker
Okay, so, you know, Rufus Wainwright, the guy who, I don't think he actually sings the Hallelujah song in Shrek, but he's the one that people always think sings the Hallelujah song in Shrek because his single came out like right after Shrek.
00:16:49
Speaker
And so people just identify that with Shrek.
00:16:52
Speaker
Okay.
00:16:53
Speaker
Yeah.
00:16:53
Speaker
And so he watched the golden girls with his grandma all the time.
00:16:59
Speaker
And he finally met, um, it's a B Arthur and he went up and he told, he told her the story of, you know, man, I really enjoy, enjoy your show.
00:17:12
Speaker
Cause I would, you know, bond with my grandma.
00:17:15
Speaker
And she turns to him and just says coldly, I'm not your effing grandma and walks away.
00:17:18
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:23
Speaker
Nice.
00:17:24
Speaker
So I think that should be the wizard mode if there ever is a Golden Girls pinball machine.
00:17:29
Speaker
Okay.
00:17:29
Speaker
Yeah.
00:17:30
Speaker
Sounds legit.
00:17:31
Speaker
Okay.
00:17:31
Speaker
So meanwhile, back to your experience with the theme.
00:17:34
Speaker
Okay.
00:17:35
Speaker
So starting off average, I'd never really seen an episode of Vic and Morty.
00:17:41
Speaker
I've watched like half of the first episode since then to now.
00:17:47
Speaker
I binge watched the first season and half of the second and
00:17:51
Speaker
And as far as a theme goes for a pinball machine, I think it works very well with pinball.
00:17:56
Speaker
I think there's a lot of awesome campiness that you can do with a pinball machine.
00:18:02
Speaker
as far as Rick and more itself, it's not for me.
00:18:04
Speaker
Um, I know that a lot of people are starting to find it.
00:18:07
Speaker
They're all excited for it.
00:18:09
Speaker
Um, they're, they're loving this theme.
00:18:12
Speaker
They're loving the show.
00:18:13
Speaker
And so they're loving the translation.
00:18:15
Speaker
It can make into pinball.
00:18:16
Speaker
I just, I don't know what it is.
00:18:20
Speaker
I, I just, I'm not a fan.
00:18:21
Speaker
Like, sorry, I, I'm not going to be one of the 11 million people that watched the finale of season, season three.
00:18:31
Speaker
I just, I'm not that guy.
00:18:34
Speaker
I don't know what else to say to it.
00:18:35
Speaker
Like, I don't know.
00:18:37
Speaker
But I'm still excited for this pinball machine.
00:18:39
Speaker
Like looking at the play field, I think it's unique.
00:18:42
Speaker
I think it's doing something fresh.
00:18:45
Speaker
I think the pop bumper is a cool idea.
00:18:48
Speaker
It hasn't been done in a long while.
00:18:50
Speaker
And I think what makes it a cool idea is that Scott D'Asi also made that rail on the backside of that pop bumper.
00:18:57
Speaker
So it's not so crazy chaotic next to the flipper.
00:19:00
Speaker
You're pretty much getting, what, two-thirds of a kicker, a rounded kicker instead of just a pop bumper.
00:19:08
Speaker
And so, um, I don't know, man, I, I liked the looks of this.
00:19:12
Speaker
Um, the one person I'm going to shut shout out, Carrie Hardy is awesome that within like an hour of the reveal of the teaser, he had a full fledged video up like a 20 minute video and broke down everything.
00:19:27
Speaker
Uh, that man is just awesome.
00:19:28
Speaker
When he comes to, it comes to those things.
00:19:30
Speaker
Like if you haven't watched the video, it's just awesome.
00:19:33
Speaker
Go, go give Carrie Hardy a look.
00:19:35
Speaker
So, um,
00:19:37
Speaker
I can't remember if you had any other questions other than that.
00:19:41
Speaker
So I was lukewarm on it.
00:19:44
Speaker
Love the design.
00:19:46
Speaker
Rick and Morty, love it or leave it.
00:19:49
Speaker
I still think it's a home run, no matter what.
00:19:51
Speaker
I mean, obviously it's a home run.
00:19:52
Speaker
They sold out in four hours.
00:19:54
Speaker
Sure.
00:19:55
Speaker
Now I will also point out, a fair counterpoint would be, they also sold out a Rob Zombie, and that one hasn't had the longevity that some of the other ones have.
00:20:07
Speaker
Yeah, but Rob Zombie was only, what, 250?
00:20:08
Speaker
Yeah, it wasn't that much.
00:20:11
Speaker
It wasn't a ton.
00:20:14
Speaker
And who was, oh, crap.
00:20:16
Speaker
I'm so sorry.
00:20:17
Speaker
I've listened to so many pinball podcasts in the last seven days.
00:20:21
Speaker
I can't keep them all straight.
00:20:23
Speaker
But someone was talking about.
00:20:24
Speaker
It's also 11 o'clock at night, so.
00:20:26
Speaker
Yes, that's true.
00:20:28
Speaker
But they were talking about the fiasco that Rob Zombie was to like people buying them.
00:20:33
Speaker
And then the hype was so unreal.
00:20:36
Speaker
And then like six months along, people were bored with their Rob Zombie.
00:20:42
Speaker
So they were kind of, they could sell them for higher than what they bought them for because spooky wasn't producing them fast enough with how Alice Cooper nightmare castles went and it's went very smoothly.
00:20:53
Speaker
And just on production, I don't foresee those kind of problems with Rick and Morty.
00:20:59
Speaker
And it does bring up a new predicament.
00:21:01
Speaker
I mean, there's only 750 of these.
00:21:04
Speaker
And this seems like a very desirable theme.
00:21:08
Speaker
Do you think it's going to create some chaos in the hobby like maybe Rob Zombie did?
00:21:13
Speaker
No, I don't.
00:21:15
Speaker
So let me – I'm going to answer my question now, and then we'll swing back around and talk about the chaos.
Pinball Market and Production Strategy
00:21:25
Speaker
Well, actually, no, I'll talk about the chaos and the hobby.
00:21:27
Speaker
I don't think it will.
00:21:28
Speaker
I think it will be very smooth just like TNA was in that it felt like the production of TNA meshed very well with the demand.
00:21:41
Speaker
in that it didn't seem like people were flipping them over quickly, but there was a, I guess, a healthy second market for them, but the prices weren't crazy high.
00:21:54
Speaker
They weren't crazy low.
00:21:56
Speaker
I would say that,
00:21:58
Speaker
a reasonable hit on a pinball machine after it's new, at least within the first year, should be maybe 10%.
00:22:09
Speaker
And considering cars, I think that's actually a pretty good return on investment.
00:22:13
Speaker
If you buy a machine for, let's just say 5,500 and then you sell it for 5,000.
00:22:21
Speaker
But let's assume that you've had it in your in-home environment and you've had
00:22:26
Speaker
Uh, 500 to a thousand plays on it.
00:22:29
Speaker
Um, you're still getting value for your money.
00:22:32
Speaker
Um, but you're able to do it in, in a home environment on a machine that is highly tuned as opposed to a location machine that you don't know what you're going to get.
00:22:43
Speaker
And it felt that TNA, you can still get them for roughly about 90% of what the retail was.
00:22:52
Speaker
It seems that Rick and Morty is going to follow that same path in that there are some very diehard fans out there.
00:23:03
Speaker
And this gets back a little bit to the theme.
00:23:06
Speaker
The theme surprised me a little bit because it is outside of the wheelhouse of the 45-year-old guy with a game room, which is exactly my demographic.
00:23:21
Speaker
Which is why when I hear of everything that Stern has put out, you know, they put out, you know, Aerosmith, they put out and other things that, what are people's dream things?
00:23:32
Speaker
Oh, well, they'd want a Van Halen one.
00:23:33
Speaker
They'd want a Motley Crue one.
00:23:35
Speaker
They'd want all, you know, Def Leppard one or whatever.
00:23:38
Speaker
That's all in my demographic of growing up in the 80s, really.
00:23:45
Speaker
And so when they talked about a Rick and Morty theme, the first time I had ever heard about Rick and Morty was with Ryan on Head to Head.
00:23:55
Speaker
And he talked about he would love a Rick and Morty theme.
00:23:57
Speaker
And I had no idea what he was talking about.
00:24:00
Speaker
So I saw that as a, it's a positive thing in that they're branching out from my demographic.
00:24:07
Speaker
Now, I still want them obviously to cater to my demographic and to give machines that are in my wheelhouse, but it does make me happy that there are some alternative things out there.
00:24:19
Speaker
And Rick and Morty, it's certainly a niche theme.
00:24:23
Speaker
It's not a mainstream theme.
00:24:26
Speaker
So it caters to...
00:24:29
Speaker
Hey, this is a fun, small thing, and it also works really well for Spooky.
00:24:34
Speaker
This would not be a good release for Stern or Jersey Jack because the volume just wouldn't be there.
00:24:41
Speaker
But this is a perfect game for Spooky, and I'm actually quite surprised that it sold out so quickly, but I am happy for Charlie and Spooky, and it really says how healthy the diversity in the field is.
00:24:58
Speaker
No, I agree.
00:24:59
Speaker
I don't know.
00:25:00
Speaker
I think it's a home run regardless.
00:25:03
Speaker
I think it's going to be good for Spooky.
00:25:06
Speaker
I mean, obviously, there's a $1,000 non-refundable deposit.
00:25:11
Speaker
They sold 750 of these.
00:25:12
Speaker
That's three quarters of a million dollars in four hours.
00:25:17
Speaker
They got to be popping champagne over there or something, dude.
00:25:19
Speaker
They got to be partying for Christmas.
00:25:22
Speaker
Yeah.
00:25:23
Speaker
I'm excited for them.
00:25:25
Speaker
It's perfect for their, you know, part of knowing your business is you have to ask some hard questions about knowing yourself and what are you trying to be.
00:25:37
Speaker
That's the challenge with so many businesses is there's a mismatch on what they're trying to be versus what they really are.
00:25:46
Speaker
And Charlie has really focused on, we are a small town business.
00:25:53
Speaker
And we are trying to make sure that we don't have these crazy swings in production.
00:25:59
Speaker
And we have steady lines of production.
00:26:01
Speaker
And really, if they're producing about 10 games a week, 750 is probably their max.
00:26:07
Speaker
Yeah.
00:26:08
Speaker
Because, you know, that's 75 weeks of production and you have to freshen up the lineup.
00:26:17
Speaker
You have.
00:26:17
Speaker
So that's, you know, about a year and a half.
00:26:20
Speaker
And that seems about the right for their development.
00:26:24
Speaker
So every year and a half, they put out a new machine.
00:26:27
Speaker
If you're always just making the same machine, eventually you're going to get stale.
00:26:31
Speaker
Right.
00:26:32
Speaker
Congratulations to those guys over there.
00:26:33
Speaker
Hopefully we've reached out to Scott and we'll reach out to Charlie.
00:26:38
Speaker
We want to have them on the show sometime in the future.
00:26:41
Speaker
I know right now is probably not the best time.
00:26:43
Speaker
So, but yeah, I want to, I want to hear from those guys.
00:26:46
Speaker
And I bet you guys out there in loser kid pinball land want to hear them too.
00:26:50
Speaker
So moving on rumors.
00:26:56
Speaker
The rumors that are ramping up this week are Stranger Things.
00:27:01
Speaker
I know we've been talking about this for what?
00:27:03
Speaker
Okay, it's not really a rumor.
00:27:06
Speaker
Stern all but said that that's what it is when they're releasing it on their Facebook page and everything is all Stranger Things.
00:27:17
Speaker
Yeah, it's officially unofficial.
00:27:20
Speaker
The rumors we're hearing, our sources are saying it's going to be released probably within the next week.
00:27:25
Speaker
We're hearing that we're going to be seeing stuff very, very soon.
00:27:28
Speaker
If not, by time, knowing our luck, I'll edit this down and release it and Stern will release the pictures in the video.
00:27:35
Speaker
So.
00:27:36
Speaker
That's how unshocked I'd be.
00:27:39
Speaker
But our timing is already better than everyone else in podcast land because everybody recorded their podcasts.
00:27:49
Speaker
And then Spooky dropped Rick and Morty and showed exactly what it was.
00:27:56
Speaker
And so people are like, oh, okay, well, there goes our podcast.
00:28:01
Speaker
So we at least have timing on that.
00:28:04
Speaker
Yeah, it's true.
00:28:05
Speaker
Are you surprised at all by the timing of them releasing this?
00:28:10
Speaker
Or do you just think, no, this is just how many releases they do in a year?
00:28:16
Speaker
Yeah, that's how I feel.
00:28:17
Speaker
I feel they released Munsters last year, second or third week into January.
00:28:23
Speaker
They're kind of holding towards their schedule.
00:28:26
Speaker
And so this puts it right in line where they should be releasing a game.
00:28:29
Speaker
It doesn't...
00:28:32
Speaker
I guess not weird that they're releasing a week before Christmas, but maybe it's perfect.
00:28:37
Speaker
Maybe people are going to get those orders in so they can have a stranger things in their house by New Year's.
00:28:42
Speaker
Yeah, I am surprised by the timing just because the demand for Jurassic Park has been red hot.
00:28:53
Speaker
So I'm wondering, since they have multiple lines, perhaps they just feel that, well, we can still keep Jurassic Park going on one of the main lines or a secondary line and still get this new one out.
00:29:08
Speaker
It's the same thing as we need to stay relevant and still make those things.
00:29:13
Speaker
So it does surprise me a little bit considering how well Jurassic Park is selling.
00:29:19
Speaker
But I'm really happy that it's healthy.
00:29:22
Speaker
And this really should be in my demographic.
00:29:28
Speaker
But I haven't watched an episode yet.
00:29:32
Speaker
I'm one of the three people on the planet who have not seen a Stranger Things episode.
00:29:39
Speaker
So actually, the closest I've seen is the parody on Saturday Night Live where it talks about Stranger Things.
00:29:46
Speaker
Gotcha.
00:29:46
Speaker
Okay.
00:29:46
Speaker
Okay.
00:29:47
Speaker
It's a good show.
00:29:48
Speaker
It's the first season's really good.
00:29:50
Speaker
I had to kind of, I didn't watch the second season fully until the third season come out.
00:29:55
Speaker
And the third season was, I was hearing was really great.
00:29:57
Speaker
So I finished up season two and finished season three, I think all within a week.
00:30:02
Speaker
It was, it was really good.
00:30:05
Speaker
Um,
00:30:06
Speaker
The rumors that we're hearing, Joe Lemire over at Head to Head said that the upside down is going to be a lighting effect.
00:30:15
Speaker
This is his guess, but we're actually, this is what we're hearing rumor wise is actually going to be a lighting effect.
00:30:20
Speaker
So the lights will be one way for the, when you're in normal world.
00:30:25
Speaker
And then when you're in the upside down, the lights will change and the play field will kind of be altered into the upside down that way.
00:30:36
Speaker
The other rumor is there won't be a lower playfield.
00:30:38
Speaker
That's been a lot of speculation because Upside Down is in the ground.
00:30:43
Speaker
So why wouldn't you put a lower playfield in?
00:30:46
Speaker
And the funny part is we're probably saying all these rumors.
00:30:50
Speaker
And then, like I said, they'll release the video.
00:30:53
Speaker
We'll get...
00:30:55
Speaker
Stern will do to us what Spooky did to everyone else.
00:30:57
Speaker
Yeah, no, these are wild guesses and wild speculations.
00:31:01
Speaker
It's not like we have any information that no one else has out there.
00:31:07
Speaker
Correct.
00:31:07
Speaker
This is just us thinking, well, the best way to analyze a company is to say, what would I do if I were in the company?
00:31:16
Speaker
And so when you're looking at that would be an easy way.
00:31:20
Speaker
Okay.
00:31:22
Speaker
Easy may not be the right thing, but it would be a clever way of not having to alter the geometry of it, but have it appear differently.
00:31:31
Speaker
Does that make sense?
00:31:32
Speaker
Yeah.
00:31:34
Speaker
I'd be really curious to see how they do it technologically though, because you have such crazy different environments that these are getting played in.
00:31:44
Speaker
You have the home environment, you have the bar environment, the well lit, the low lit.
00:31:51
Speaker
I've never really noticed that Wizard of Oz is super low lit, but I also play in my basement.
00:31:58
Speaker
I can see pretty much the whole play field.
00:32:01
Speaker
But when I played it either on location or someone's house where they have the lights low, I mean, it's really a different environment.
00:32:08
Speaker
And so having a special effect that is dependent on ambient light, I'm really curious to see what they come up with.
00:32:17
Speaker
I hope it's something cool like black light.
00:32:19
Speaker
And then like there's...
00:32:21
Speaker
the play field's done in a certain way that when the black light turns on, it emphasizes other things like you would normally have with black light.
00:32:29
Speaker
I don't know.
00:32:31
Speaker
That's just a concept that comes to my head when we're talking about this.
00:32:36
Speaker
Honestly, there's not much more to say besides everything else that's already been repeated since, I don't know, months ago.
00:32:43
Speaker
One thing I do want to bring up that Ken Cromwell of Special Unlit was talking about, he
00:32:49
Speaker
Why do you think, because we keep talking about like, you know, there's been such a space between Jurassic Park and Stranger
Niche Pinball Games and Economic Impact
00:32:56
Speaker
Things.
00:32:56
Speaker
You know, Jurassic Park was officially released in July and now we're into December.
00:33:01
Speaker
It's almost a full six months and that's not this typical Stern thing.
00:33:05
Speaker
But he says, why do we keep skipping over Elvira?
00:33:09
Speaker
I have a couple of theories, but I want to hear your thoughts first, Scott.
00:33:14
Speaker
Um, yeah.
00:33:16
Speaker
Elvira is one of those games that is made for the people familiar with the hobby.
00:33:23
Speaker
Elvira is not...
00:33:26
Speaker
She hasn't been making... Cassandra Peterson hasn't really been making anything for the last 15, 20 years, right?
00:33:34
Speaker
And so this is really hearkening back to that day.
00:33:38
Speaker
And then, of course, you have Elvira and the Party Monsters.
00:33:41
Speaker
You have Scared Sif.
00:33:42
Speaker
And so the people in Pinball are very familiar with Elvira.
00:33:47
Speaker
I would say...
00:33:48
Speaker
pop culture has really moved past Elvira.
00:33:52
Speaker
And so the only, the only group that she still resonates strongly with is the pinball crowd.
00:34:01
Speaker
Um, and obviously it's, it's a fun, it's a campy film.
00:34:04
Speaker
It is a campy show that used to be on, on late night before, you know, back in the day when, um,
00:34:11
Speaker
TV actually signed off at the end of the day.
00:34:13
Speaker
You know, with the, do you ever remember that Josh, that TV actually went dark and,
00:34:22
Speaker
I do, actually.
00:34:24
Speaker
Yeah, late at night.
00:34:25
Speaker
They played the Pledge of Allegiance, and then it went to, like, Attack of the Flies.
00:34:29
Speaker
And then it didn't come on until about four in the morning again.
00:34:34
Speaker
And that's really the time era when Cassandra Peterson's Elvira was in its heyday.
00:34:41
Speaker
So the challenge, too, is that it's an expensive premium machine.
00:34:50
Speaker
And the volume, I don't know of anybody who's... So it's an expensive premium machine.
00:34:56
Speaker
It's a Kapow title.
00:34:57
Speaker
And it's really going to cater to the pinball enthusiasts just like Black Knight did.
00:35:06
Speaker
I know I really like Black Knight.
00:35:08
Speaker
I think it's a fun game.
00:35:10
Speaker
However, if you don't know anything about pinball, you're not... Very few people are going to look over and say, huh, there's a Black Knight over there.
00:35:17
Speaker
I want to go play it.
00:35:19
Speaker
Because they have no idea who the Black Knight is.
00:35:21
Speaker
They would think, is this an Ivanhoe game?
00:35:25
Speaker
A classic literature game?
00:35:27
Speaker
But that's the reason why people just glance over it.
00:35:33
Speaker
Because there isn't a pro version.
00:35:35
Speaker
And really to be relevant on location, unless you...
00:35:40
Speaker
personally own it or you know someone who owns it, you are going to forget about anything that doesn't have a pro game.
00:35:47
Speaker
I think the same thing happened to Beatles, and Beatles is a fantastic game.
00:35:52
Speaker
But people forget about Beatles just because of the premium price, and unless you know someone who personally has it, you're not going to play it.
00:36:00
Speaker
That's very true.
00:36:02
Speaker
And honestly, those are the main reasons.
00:36:04
Speaker
I think you've hit it on the head.
00:36:06
Speaker
Honestly, I think the biggest thing is price.
00:36:09
Speaker
I think that pro is what keeps everyone chattering about your pinball machine.
00:36:17
Speaker
I think that's why Jersey Jack's trying to bring their price down to be competitive.
00:36:23
Speaker
It's just, I think...
00:36:25
Speaker
I think it's fine and dandy that there's premiums and Ellie's and that's wonderful that we have those.
00:36:30
Speaker
But I really think if you want to stay relevant in a market and sell a ton of pinball machines, you're going to have to have a pro priced pinball machine.
00:36:41
Speaker
That's, that's just me.
00:36:42
Speaker
Like, I mean, look at Jurassic Park.
00:36:44
Speaker
I think that's why Jurassic Park.
00:36:45
Speaker
So, so loved and revered is because I can't think of another Stern game where we had three pros in Utah, which
00:36:54
Speaker
all out on location within the first month it released.
00:36:58
Speaker
And it's just like, you know, there's not a single Elvira in the state of Utah.
00:37:04
Speaker
You can't tell me that it's
00:37:08
Speaker
I really think it comes down to price.
00:37:09
Speaker
I think that's what it comes down to.
00:37:11
Speaker
Yeah, of course it comes down to price.
00:37:14
Speaker
That's where Stern wins.
00:37:18
Speaker
Stern has proven two things.
00:37:21
Speaker
One, yes, it is all about the theme.
00:37:24
Speaker
The theme is relevant.
00:37:26
Speaker
And two, yes, it is all about the price too.
00:37:29
Speaker
Because you have to be able to, you can't just cater to selling high-end toys to middle-aged dudes in their basements.
00:37:40
Speaker
Because eventually, guess what?
00:37:41
Speaker
We're all going to get old and die.
00:37:44
Speaker
So you need to find ways of catering to the next generation and figuring out ways of getting them in.
00:37:52
Speaker
And if you do not have pros, you are going to become irrelevant in 10 years.
00:37:59
Speaker
And that's what happened in the 90s really is pinball became irrelevant.
00:38:06
Speaker
They did not have a way of competing with PlayStation.
00:38:09
Speaker
Yep.
00:38:11
Speaker
PlayStation kills pinball.
00:38:13
Speaker
Here's my thing though too is right now the economy is really strong.
00:38:20
Speaker
Or it's going well enough that people can have a hobby like this to pay for pinball machines.
00:38:25
Speaker
That's what it comes down to.
00:38:27
Speaker
What happens when we have another 08 recession?
00:38:31
Speaker
You know, high end hobbies are the first thing that die.
00:38:36
Speaker
Yep.
00:38:36
Speaker
They really are because right now people can, they can buy a machine and you're seeing a little bit less of a turnover of some of these classic titles because they've become so expensive because as people who had some more disposable income decided to get in, however, housing prices are going up and maybe people aren't going to be able to buy a
00:39:05
Speaker
you know, an arcade to put in their basement.
00:39:07
Speaker
And what happens is it starts with, well, I don't want 10 games.
00:39:13
Speaker
Maybe I'll have eight.
00:39:15
Speaker
Maybe I'll have six.
00:39:16
Speaker
Well, you know what?
00:39:16
Speaker
I'll just choose four.
00:39:17
Speaker
You know, I just need two.
00:39:19
Speaker
And that it just slowly whittles down.
00:39:22
Speaker
And eventually you're going to see, I don't want to say a flood on the market, but you'll see a lot of games that start moving around as people start tightening their belts.
00:39:33
Speaker
Well, and here's the other thing too.
00:39:35
Speaker
Lord of the Rings, fantastic game.
00:39:36
Speaker
It's been around about $6,000 for the last year or so on average.
00:39:43
Speaker
I saw four in the last two weeks at $5,500 or less.
00:39:48
Speaker
And we're talking $5,000 to $5,500 and sitting.
00:39:53
Speaker
I think we're starting to see some of those older games are going to sit.
00:39:57
Speaker
Yeah.
00:39:59
Speaker
I don't know.
00:40:00
Speaker
We could go all night about pinball pricing and all that jazz.
00:40:03
Speaker
But like I said, I think what keeps you relevant is that lower price, that $5,800 is very, very nice compared to a $7,000 to a $7,500.
00:40:12
Speaker
I mean, it is what it is.
00:40:13
Speaker
So...
00:40:19
Speaker
Well, it's a big price difference.
00:40:21
Speaker
When you look at – I know people will say, oh, it's just $1,000 more, just $2,000.
00:40:24
Speaker
Well, okay.
00:40:25
Speaker
But when you're looking at – let's just do basic prices, $7,000 versus $5,000, you're looking at about a 40% increase.
00:40:29
Speaker
That's huge.
00:40:30
Speaker
Yep.
00:40:41
Speaker
Let's move on to the next rumor.
00:40:43
Speaker
Let's just keep it really short and sweet.
00:40:46
Speaker
Canada announced or broke the news that Hot Wheels is the next American pinball.
00:40:53
Speaker
Maybe not the next or it might be the one after, but Hot Wheels is a title for American pinball.
00:41:00
Speaker
Give me a 30-second thought.
00:41:03
Speaker
Yeah, okay.
00:41:04
Speaker
I'll recognize it.
00:41:06
Speaker
But if you had told me it was Mario Kart...
00:41:09
Speaker
I'd be interested.
00:41:11
Speaker
If you're talking about Hot Wheels, I'm not really that interested.
00:41:16
Speaker
So, you know, this is where, and we're just talking theme alone, right?
00:41:20
Speaker
Am I going to be interested in the theme?
00:41:23
Speaker
Not really.
00:41:24
Speaker
It's okay.
00:41:26
Speaker
So it's, it's a car that, and I'm sure the ramps will be those orange, those orange ramps with a little guide things.
00:41:36
Speaker
It's okay.
00:41:38
Speaker
It doesn't make me want to give up my quarter.
00:41:40
Speaker
What about you?
00:41:43
Speaker
I'm right there with you, dude.
00:41:44
Speaker
I remember playing with them as a kid.
00:41:46
Speaker
There probably can be some really cool stuff.
00:41:48
Speaker
It's one of those things.
00:41:49
Speaker
I'm going to have to see it before I you're going to have to warm me up to the idea before I actually get excited for it.
00:41:55
Speaker
Yeah, it's this is a little this is a deviation from the 80s nostalgia wheelhouse that we have.
00:42:02
Speaker
Right.
00:42:02
Speaker
The 80s nostalgia wheelhouse really kicks in when you're 12 to 17.
00:42:06
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:08
Speaker
And that is, I am aware of the world and I have a sense of what's cool and what's not.
00:42:14
Speaker
Okay.
00:42:15
Speaker
Between that era, which is that wheelhouse we're in right now, that A's nostalgia wheelhouse and Hot Wheels isn't in there.
00:42:25
Speaker
And He-Man's in there.
00:42:27
Speaker
Teenage Mutant Ninja Trolls is in there.
00:42:30
Speaker
G.I.
00:42:30
Speaker
Joe would be in there.
00:42:33
Speaker
Star Wars would be, you know, just things like that where I, I,
00:42:38
Speaker
Yeah, it seemed relevant for that age demographic.
00:42:42
Speaker
Hot Wheels, it's relevant for five-year-olds.
00:42:47
Speaker
And my son, who's nine, he doesn't play with Hot Wheels.
00:42:51
Speaker
And he's moved on.
00:42:51
Speaker
Yeah, my son doesn't either.
00:42:53
Speaker
My son has a whole collection of Hot Wheels and doesn't play with them.
00:42:55
Speaker
Yeah, we do too.
00:42:57
Speaker
What about a Thomas the Train pinball machine?
Upcoming Themes and Listener Story
00:42:59
Speaker
Would you buy that?
00:43:01
Speaker
No.
00:43:01
Speaker
Yeah, neither would I. So... Well...
00:43:06
Speaker
Like I said, it's going to be one of those things where they're going to have to show us the product before I get sold on that.
00:43:12
Speaker
Yeah, and basically, okay, and we're just talking the theme.
00:43:15
Speaker
It's basically going to be a fast race car based theme.
00:43:19
Speaker
And so, okay, fine.
00:43:20
Speaker
Like it can still be fun.
00:43:21
Speaker
It'll be a racing game.
00:43:23
Speaker
And so maybe it's a little bit more of a need for speed or something that lines.
00:43:29
Speaker
So maybe that's a cheaper way of doing a Cosmic Kart, not a Cosmic Kart racing, which is basically Mario Kart, right?
00:43:37
Speaker
The Mario Kart license would, even if Nintendo licensed it, it'd probably be more expensive.
00:43:42
Speaker
So I...
00:43:44
Speaker
My guess is that it's easier for them to build a racing theme that is recognizable without having to pay the Mario Kart premium.
00:43:54
Speaker
So with the animations, they could make it cool.
00:43:57
Speaker
It's just when we talk theme alone, I don't know.
00:44:01
Speaker
I'd have to see how they implement it.
00:44:04
Speaker
So on our last episode, we talked about a story about Cactus Canyon and a gentleman saving one of a boiler fire.
00:44:12
Speaker
And we challenged anyone that if they had their own stories, they were more than welcome to send them in.
00:44:17
Speaker
And we would read them off on air, whether it be an epic pinball save, whether it be just a heartwarming story.
00:44:25
Speaker
Yeah.
00:44:28
Speaker
Listener of the show, Michael Peterson, sent in his own pinball story and wanted to share it with everyone.
00:44:33
Speaker
So let me pull this up really quick.
00:44:35
Speaker
Okay, this is Michael Peterson.
00:44:40
Speaker
Hey, fellas, here's the story I'd like to share.
00:44:42
Speaker
So I've been in the hobby for almost three years and I've done I dove in headfirst.
00:44:46
Speaker
Like many of us, I built up a nice collection through buying, trading and selling.
00:44:50
Speaker
Well, my best friend loves pinball as much as I do, but he just can't financially afford to buy one right now.
00:44:56
Speaker
He absolutely loves playing my machines and always talks about owning one someday.
00:45:00
Speaker
He's a great guy.
00:45:01
Speaker
He helps me clean and upgrade my games occasionally just because he's a great friend and he just loves everything to do with pinball like myself.
00:45:08
Speaker
So for his birthday, I wanted to do everything I could to get him a pinball machine.
00:45:12
Speaker
I saved up some extra cash and a very nice seller worked with me on a good price for a Cleopatra, which was in very nice shape.
00:45:19
Speaker
I went and picked it up and brought it home.
00:45:22
Speaker
The next day, I invited my friend over and showed him my next pinball machine I wanted help cleaning and upgrading.
00:45:27
Speaker
Asked him why he thought I wanted his help on this particular machine.
00:45:31
Speaker
Then I told him, because this is your pinball machine.
00:45:33
Speaker
Happy birthday, brother.
00:45:35
Speaker
I had never seen my best friend cry ever.
00:45:38
Speaker
Well, he did this day and it was awesome.
00:45:41
Speaker
Pay it forward.
00:45:41
Speaker
My friends, life is short at the end of the day, money and these machines really don't mean anything.
00:45:46
Speaker
It's just about the relationships we build and just living life.
00:45:51
Speaker
I thought that was an awesome story, especially for this time of year.
00:45:53
Speaker
It was like, yeah, it's just perfect for the Christmas time of year.
00:45:56
Speaker
Exactly.
00:45:57
Speaker
My heart just grew three sizes.
00:45:59
Speaker
So, and, and that, that's, that's a super awesome story.
00:46:02
Speaker
And that really is, um, that, that goes beyond friendship.
00:46:06
Speaker
And that's a, uh, um, you are making a difference in someone's life.
00:46:12
Speaker
It seriously is an awesome story.
00:46:14
Speaker
I mean, good for you.
00:46:15
Speaker
That really is going above and beyond.
00:46:17
Speaker
Well, let's make a difference in someone else's life.
00:46:18
Speaker
How about, what do you say, Scott?
00:46:20
Speaker
Okay, let's talk about the giveaway.
Giveaway and Holiday Wishes
00:46:23
Speaker
Refresh our memory about this awesome, sweet giveaway.
00:46:27
Speaker
So Brad Hunter of litframes.com said, Hey guys, let's do something fun.
00:46:32
Speaker
Let's give away a Superman 78 translate.
00:46:35
Speaker
Um, there was only 25 of these made signed by Christopher Franchi.
00:46:40
Speaker
Uh, he did them for pinball expo and Brad Hunter was awesome enough to get a couple of them.
00:46:45
Speaker
And he decided to give one away on our show.
00:46:49
Speaker
So thank you, Brad.
00:46:50
Speaker
We really appreciate it.
00:46:51
Speaker
Um,
00:46:52
Speaker
So what we did is if you liked our page, if you liked the post that we put along with commenting on it and sharing it, you got an entry for every time you did something of that sort.
00:47:05
Speaker
We had...
00:47:07
Speaker
It was ridiculous.
00:47:08
Speaker
It was like been shared 30 times or something like that.
00:47:13
Speaker
Let's see.
00:47:14
Speaker
It was shared 20 times, commented on 30 different times.
00:47:17
Speaker
It reached over 1,300 people.
00:47:19
Speaker
I mean, it was awesome.
00:47:22
Speaker
Just our page likes has went up.
00:47:25
Speaker
We really appreciate everyone that just...
00:47:29
Speaker
joined in on the fun.
00:47:30
Speaker
You know what I'm saying?
00:47:31
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:31
Speaker
So, and I'll point out, and really, we're, we're trying to do this to, to find a positive alternative to all the junk out there.
00:47:42
Speaker
And so, and the wider audience that we can reach and to expose to pinball and to make this fun and to give a little, you know, positive reinforcement in life, then that's great.
00:47:54
Speaker
And so these types of contests really do help us out in our goal.
00:47:59
Speaker
Yep.
00:48:00
Speaker
So, all right.
00:48:01
Speaker
I think this is the moment everyone's been waiting for.
00:48:03
Speaker
So what I did is I printed off the page.
00:48:06
Speaker
I cut everyone's name up on the little pieces of paper, put it in one of our hats.
00:48:10
Speaker
Can you hear that, Scott?
00:48:11
Speaker
I can hear it.
00:48:12
Speaker
Yeah.
00:48:13
Speaker
Sweet.
00:48:14
Speaker
So I put it into our, one of our hats and we will pull a name out of the hat.
00:48:17
Speaker
You ready for this?
00:48:18
Speaker
Let's do it.
00:48:20
Speaker
Okay.
00:48:20
Speaker
There we go.
00:48:22
Speaker
Uh, Christopher French.
00:48:23
Speaker
No, no, no,
00:48:28
Speaker
All right.
00:48:30
Speaker
Katie.
00:48:31
Speaker
No, sorry.
00:48:32
Speaker
Kate Haberman.
00:48:33
Speaker
Kate Haberman.
00:48:34
Speaker
Looks like you won the Superman 78 Translight.
00:48:38
Speaker
We will get we'll catch up with you and along with Brad and we'll get you your Translight.
00:48:44
Speaker
Awesome.
00:48:45
Speaker
Congratulations.
00:48:46
Speaker
That's awesome.
00:48:46
Speaker
I wish we had some kind of fireworks.
00:48:48
Speaker
I'll add fireworks later.
00:48:49
Speaker
Pew, pew, pew.
00:48:51
Speaker
And applause.
00:48:52
Speaker
But yeah, awesome.
00:48:56
Speaker
You're now the new proud owner of a Superman 78 Translight signed by Christopher Franchi.
00:49:04
Speaker
Yeah, it's actually pretty, it's pretty amazing.
00:49:08
Speaker
Like what, obviously, Christopher has put these, these dream themes out there.
00:49:15
Speaker
And it certainly is, it's absolutely an amazing job.
00:49:19
Speaker
And it looks like a great thing to go into any pinball room.
00:49:24
Speaker
So that's pretty awesome.
00:49:26
Speaker
Congratulations.
00:49:28
Speaker
Let's wrap this up with our holiday wishes for everyone and what we hope to see in the new year.
00:49:35
Speaker
Well, I would like to wish holiday wishes to everybody who's listened to our podcast.
00:49:41
Speaker
We really, we do this because we find it fun.
00:49:45
Speaker
The hats we're trying to do, things to just make this a great escape for life.
00:49:50
Speaker
And so when there's so many other things out there, I just want you to realize that
00:49:56
Speaker
there are good things in life and fun things and ways that you can actually use your hobby to break down.
00:50:04
Speaker
So I'm going to reach out to everybody who has contacted us and people that we have contacted through this podcast.
00:50:12
Speaker
It's been a crazy year.
00:50:13
Speaker
I've been able to talk to a crazy amount of people that I never really thought that I would be able to and just
00:50:22
Speaker
Josh and I, at least I've had a great time with Josh and Josh has put his fair share of, uh, working in, uh, driving things behind the scenes.
00:50:30
Speaker
And so I just want to wish everybody, uh, a safe and happy holiday season and to wish next year to be even better.
00:50:41
Speaker
I agree.
00:50:42
Speaker
Um, uh, holiday wishes to all those that have also helped us along the way too.
00:50:48
Speaker
Um,
00:50:50
Speaker
Martin from head to head's been really good to us, uh, giving us pointers.
00:50:53
Speaker
Same with Ken Cromwell of special one lit Zach, many Dennis Creasel.
00:50:58
Speaker
Um,
00:51:00
Speaker
There's names are slipping my mind.
00:51:01
Speaker
There's just, there's so many people out there that have been generous enough to reach out and whether it just give us pointers on our show or just give us a slap on the back.
00:51:10
Speaker
You guys have been fantastic.
00:51:12
Speaker
I'm still so humbled that people even want to listen to us.
00:51:14
Speaker
Thank you.
00:51:15
Speaker
Thank you.
00:51:15
Speaker
Thank you for you guys that tune in every single two weeks that we do this and listen.
00:51:22
Speaker
And just email us and whatnot.
00:51:23
Speaker
It's awesome to have met these people that we would have not met otherwise if we have not done this.
00:51:28
Speaker
And let's also give a shout out to everybody who took a risk on two guys who they had no idea who they were.
00:51:34
Speaker
Eric Meniere.
00:51:37
Speaker
being able to come on being our first big guest.
00:51:41
Speaker
And he is an amazing designer.
00:51:44
Speaker
I'm really excited about what he did.
00:51:48
Speaker
Keith, I know you're super busy, buddy.
00:51:50
Speaker
Really appreciate you coming on and talking.
00:51:53
Speaker
We would love to have you back.
00:51:55
Speaker
I'd love to have Eric back too, but everybody we talked to, let's have Keith back now that he's had Jurassic Park out and be able to talk more about the development of it.
00:52:05
Speaker
And we had Bowen Karens on.
00:52:07
Speaker
If you don't know who Bowen is, then just search any of the Google machines and you'll come up with him telling you how to play your game.
00:52:17
Speaker
Also, Jeff Teolis coming on and being the new- Josh Sharp.
00:52:24
Speaker
Josh Sharp, exactly.
00:52:26
Speaker
Well, I was going to get there.
00:52:27
Speaker
I was going to say Jeff took over for Josh for the next year.
00:52:30
Speaker
Yeah.
00:52:32
Speaker
But I mean, seriously, anybody who has been able to come on, we really do appreciate it.
00:52:38
Speaker
And we know that you're doing it because you are trying to reach out to people too.
00:52:43
Speaker
And we love being able to help interconnect people.
00:52:48
Speaker
What do you hope for in 2020?
00:52:49
Speaker
Man, I didn't even think about that.
00:52:56
Speaker
You know what I hope for?
00:52:57
Speaker
I just, I hope pinball brings more people together.
00:53:00
Speaker
I hope that.
00:53:02
Speaker
We put aside all of our differences.
00:53:06
Speaker
Those that need help, reach out, lend them a helping hand.
00:53:10
Speaker
And we just, we have fun.
00:53:12
Speaker
We play some pinball and get to know each other better.
00:53:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:53:15
Speaker
And I would say, I hope for more positive things in the hobby.
00:53:19
Speaker
It's every time you hear about the bad behavior of someone, it really does just make my head shake and think, really?
00:53:26
Speaker
Like, this is...
00:53:31
Speaker
come up to speed.
00:53:32
Speaker
Let's just say, let's do a reset, regardless of who you were in the past.
00:53:37
Speaker
And maybe we are all evolving as a culture.
00:53:40
Speaker
Let's all just try to reach out and just to be nice.
00:53:44
Speaker
That's crazy.
00:53:45
Speaker
Just to be nice to everybody.
00:53:46
Speaker
And I'm not saying, hey, you have to agree with everything.
00:53:50
Speaker
You don't have the same politics.
00:53:51
Speaker
You don't have the same religion.
00:53:53
Speaker
You don't even have to have the same orientation.
00:53:55
Speaker
You don't have to have anything like that.
00:53:56
Speaker
But
00:53:57
Speaker
Find a way just to look for the positive in the hobby and be able to reach out and maybe play a game with someone who is completely different than you.
00:54:06
Speaker
And it's amazing just to see that there are so many positive things to meet about every different person, even if you have nothing else in common other than pinball.
00:54:16
Speaker
Yeah, there's no better way to put it.
00:54:18
Speaker
So I'm going to end on this.
Community Support and Podcast Information
00:54:20
Speaker
I'm going to end on our friend Landon Orr.
00:54:22
Speaker
He just moved away from Utah and moved back to his home state of North Carolina.
00:54:26
Speaker
He's lived here with us for eight, 10 years, somewhere around there.
00:54:31
Speaker
But he left this note.
00:54:32
Speaker
This was our group here in Utah.
00:54:33
Speaker
It's called SLAP, the Salt Lake Area Pinballers.
00:54:36
Speaker
He just said,
00:55:00
Speaker
My wife and I have had been a bit worried moving out to North Carolina where we didn't know anyone, but I knew that I'd find some good people out here playing pinball and slap taught me that our time was slap was so short, but it meant so much to us.
00:55:12
Speaker
I know we've made a lifelong friends there.
00:55:14
Speaker
We're excited to see everyone at gaming con.
00:55:19
Speaker
Yeah.
00:55:20
Speaker
It's just awesome that pinball, uh,
00:55:23
Speaker
has changed someone's life in the fact that you could go from Utah to North Carolina and feel like you're automatically included and welcomed in the community because you have fellow people in the pinball community.
00:55:35
Speaker
So awesome that, that, that's, that, that helped.
00:55:40
Speaker
I don't know how to put it.
00:55:41
Speaker
Well,
00:55:42
Speaker
In modern world, there's so many ways of building walls.
00:55:45
Speaker
There's so many ways of isolating ourselves, whether or not it's commuting in our car, working in our cubicle, coming home and watching TV or playing a video game.
00:55:55
Speaker
There's so many ways that we can isolate ourselves.
00:55:59
Speaker
And even our entertainment has become solo entertainment.
00:56:06
Speaker
Like this is one way to break down some walls and actually just go and meet other people by interacting, you know, the way that, you know, we are, we're programmed to do as a species.
00:56:17
Speaker
We're programmed to be social.
00:56:19
Speaker
We're programmed to interconnect.
00:56:21
Speaker
And so just, you know, take that, you know, maybe one night when you're thinking, you know what, maybe I'll do a Rick and Morty binge or a Stranger Things binge.
00:56:31
Speaker
Maybe you say, you know what, maybe I'm going to text my buddies and let's go down and play some pinball.
00:56:36
Speaker
Yep.
00:56:37
Speaker
That's what it's all about, man.
00:56:38
Speaker
So, well, that's pretty much it for us.
00:56:42
Speaker
If you want to send us in a story or a comment, anything like that, hit us up at loser kid pinball podcast at gmail.com.
00:56:51
Speaker
Uh, you can also hit us up at Facebook and Instagram.
00:56:54
Speaker
We're more than happy to listen to you and hear your wonderful stories that you guys have been sending us.
00:57:00
Speaker
Um,
00:57:00
Speaker
Please do let us know if you want us to share them.
00:57:02
Speaker
I mean, I assume that you do if you're sending them to us, but still.
00:57:07
Speaker
And also check out on our Facebook page.
00:57:10
Speaker
We are having our winter hat lineup getting set up.
00:57:14
Speaker
Again, we really make very little on these things.
00:57:17
Speaker
We just make enough so we can get people out hats.
00:57:21
Speaker
We have some great beanies that we are going to be making for the first of the year.
00:57:25
Speaker
And so if you want to get in on the warm hat action, please just message us and we'll be able to hook you up with that.
00:57:34
Speaker
We will be making a batch of them at the, like Scott said, beginning of the year.
00:57:38
Speaker
These, these sweet new era ones with the pom-poms on top are fleeced lines.
00:57:43
Speaker
They, they are fantastic.
00:57:45
Speaker
So, but yeah.
00:57:48
Speaker
Anything else, Scott?
00:57:49
Speaker
No, I think that's it.
00:57:50
Speaker
I want everyone to have an excellent new year and we'll see you around January.
00:57:53
Speaker
And we may have a pop.
00:57:54
Speaker
We may have a pop up if if they release a Stranger Things play field and we'll be able to see.
00:58:01
Speaker
Yep.
00:58:01
Speaker
We'll see you guys in 2020.
00:58:03
Speaker
And also, if you have any suggestions, our one year episodes coming up, shoot us some suggestions if you got anything for us.
00:58:09
Speaker
So.
00:58:10
Speaker
All right.
00:58:11
Speaker
Later, Scott.
00:58:12
Speaker
All right.
00:58:12
Speaker
Thanks.
00:58:12
Speaker
See you.